Why Metering Pumpage Pays

Abstract

Water works superintendents and consulting engineers, designing improvements for water works plants, are confronted with an almost infinite variety of important problems. The recent rapid strides in reducing operating costs by increasing plant efficiency, have demanded that accurate knowledge of all existing conditions be available in convenient form. The installation of meters and instruments has brought the superintendent and the engineer squarely up against the problem: Does metering pumpage pay?. Two cities, for example, have found this metering problem confronting them. Similar conditions apply in so many other cities that their particular problems seem worth outlining briefly. The smaller city derives its supply from wells. The two deep wells are pumped by two-stroke, deep-well plunger pumps, and the shallow well, located in good water bearing sand and gravel strata, is pumped by a multi-stage deep-well turbine. The wells are located in different sections of the city and the well pumps discharge directly into the distribution system. An elevated tank serves as an equalizer. The plunger pumps in the deep wells had not been equipped with meters at the time they were installed, and other use for the limited funds of the water department seemed to excuse the installation of these meters. Whenever there seemed to be a prolonged use of larger amounts of water, the thought would arise that leaks in the mains had developed and a careful search would be made to locate them. Eventually decision would be reached to shut down the pump for a week and proceed with the slow work of pulling the pump rods. Often the efforts and expense were rewarded by finding the pump leathers badly cut. These leathers would be renewed and the pump put back in service. On several occasions, however, this expense and shut-down were in vain, as the pump leathers were found